And the other weird-walking-animal footage making the rounds...

[mmcirvin]

Here are bipedal walking octopuses.

Comments

[mezdeathhead.livejournal.com]

that cracked me up more than i'd like to admit.

[mmcirvin.livejournal.com]

The pictures have a definite cartoon-character-sneaking-around-disguised-as-a-tree quality.

[mmcirvin.livejournal.com]

...Apparently, the vampire bat walk/run is a consequence of sneaking behavior too. Vampire bats don't typically swoop down out of the air; they sneak up on their prey by creeping along the ground and popping up at the last second. So they got very good at moving along the ground (I imagine running is much more energy-efficient than flying anyway, if you can get away with it).

[iayork.livejournal.com]

The interesting thing about the vampire gallop is how it's a regular gallop, but reversed -- the strong limbs here are the front ones, so the rear limbs now act as the pivots to realign the drivers. At first view the vampire looks just like a horse gallop, but somehow odd; the oddness is because the limbs are playing opposite functions to the expected. Very cool.

[mmcirvin.livejournal.com]

What it reminded me of was some gaits used by great apes, or (as another commenter remarked) humans on crutches, but apes and humans don't typically gallop that way.

[mmcirvin.livejournal.com]

...It also seems to remind a lot of people of some critters from the Jim Henson movie "The Dark Crystal".

The future is wild

[timchuma.livejournal.com]

I saw part of the Discovery Channel documentary called "The Future is Wild" that had giant squids roaming through a forest with Octogibbons in the treetops.

There has been some speculation that Cephalapods will be the most likely species to develop intelligence...

NOT ON MY WATCH BUDDY! If you'll excuse me, I have to go eat some more calamari & chips...